


The Shitty Prince And His Brat

by orphan_account



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Bottom Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Drama Maybe?, Eren Is a Little Shit, Eventual Smut, Gay, Gay Sex, Hate to Love, Levi Takes It Up The Butt, Levi Won't Let Anyone Else Clean The Castle, M/M, Non-Binary Hange Zoë, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Characters to be Added (Maybe), Princes & Princesses, Rating May Change, Sassy Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Slow Build, Slow To Update, They Don't Get Off On The Right Foot, Top Eren Yeager, Yaoi, ereri, sometimes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-10
Updated: 2015-05-31
Packaged: 2018-03-30 00:18:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3916075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A typical Royal AU where Prince Levi Ackerman of Sina is interested in one of his last suitors, Prince Eren Jeager of Shiganshina.  Levi is sassy, but Eren counters it with his bratiness and annoys Levi to no end and yet he sticks with him.  I kind of know where I'm going with this, and this is my first actual long-term story.  Hope you people enjoy this shitty story! (PS. There will be A LOT of cussing.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Guest For A Year

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so, whoever decided, "Oh yeah, this story probably won't be that bad!" is a giant liar, and if you do think that, then thank you. But I will try to keep every one in character and try to make them as realistic as possible, but there will be some ooc characters (I think) But, anyways, enjoy! (I hope)

I was sitting on my throne, waiting for my most trusted advisor, Sir Erwin Smith, to bring in the next prince or princess from one kingdom or another that I didn't care about. I was subjected to having to bear the burden of taking the throne after my mother, the current queen of Sina, passes away into the inevitable thing that is death. She has been sick from about a year after I was born and she has been ruling this kingdom from her bed.

Erwin came back into the massive room and walked right next to my throne, speaking words that made me roll my eyes.

"You know, _your highness_ , there is a limited amount of princes' and princesses' for you to betroth. I don't think anyone would want to marry you with that attitude."

I glowered at him as he smirked that stupid smug smile. I grumbled and crossed my arms and my legs at the ankles. I rolled my eyes again as he called out the next name on my list of suitors'.

"Princess Nifa of Maria, please enter the room.

A girl, who I had concluded was Nifa, entered the room and curtseyed before my throne, a few inches behind the two steps that led to my chair. Erwin tapped my side and I resisted the urge to swat his hand away.

I glared at him out of the corner of my eyes, and pulled Nifa's hand up to my mouth and kissing it, also resisting the urge to gag. Who knows _where_ that hand has been? I sure as hell don't. Stupid customary traditions.

I looked at her with my normal blank look.

"Tell me why I should even waste my time with you right now."

She narrowed her eyes at my oh so nice way with words and my monotonous enunciation of the statement.

"Well, I am a very wealthy princess from a kingdom that could give you more power. If you marry me, then we can be one of the strongest kingdoms to exist right now."

She said with such mindless confidence. That was so...stupid.

I wanted someone whom would interest me. Not someone who was told to say something that they didn't think of for themselves.

"It's not like I haven't heard that one before.  And for future reference, don't say that to a prince that isn't shallow like _some people_."

She looked at me flabbergasted and incredulously as I made a hand gesture for her to turn around and get out of my site.

"You may now leave, Princess Nifa of Maria, or whatever."

Erwin glared at me as Princess Nifa curtseyed with a strained smile and gritted her teeth as she left, muttering curses that I could barely hear.

"You know she isn't what I am looking for."

I stated after a few moments of silence filled with Erwin most likely cursing me in his head. Damn blonde bastard, thinking of his future king like that.

"Besides, you know I'm more taken with the male princes. Some of them are feisty and take control. I find it very, very attractive."

Erwin just gave a tiny huff of a laugh, trying to stay mad at me for making this difficult.

"Well then, you are most likely going to dismiss the next princess easily." I groaned and promised myself that the next prince that I meet, I'll make an effort to keep for longer than all the other suitors.

"Princess Nanaba of Rose, please enter the room."

Erwin called the next girl's name and immediately, the door opened to a silverish-blonde haired girl who seemed like she didn't want to be here anymore than I did. She had an aura of confidence in every stride she took to the steps of my throne. I didn't like it.

I did and said the same thing that I did with Nifa, reminding myself that when she leaves the room to wipe my mouth of their hand germs. She said almost the same exact thing as the last princess said, "I have money, power, and with our kingdoms united we can rule and be the strongest empire." My response though was different as I tried to break her confidence.

"Do you seriously think that is what I want for my kingdom? Do you think I want them to have to cower in fear by my power?" Her façade faltered but only for a second as she tried to make up something to compensate for her idiotic words.

"Well, no Prince Lev-" I cut her off right there.

"First of all, who said you could use my name? You shall address me as Prince Ackerman. We are in my kingdom, and I am royalty. And secondly, there is no, "Well, no"'s. There is only no."

"Ah, I am sorry Prince Ackerman, I suppose that was rude of me, and I am deeply sorry."

"You should be."

She was frowning and looked so unsure of herself. Exactly what I wanted to see. I suppose I liked to break things. I only liked to break things when I knew I could break it. Not on accident like I had with a teacup that my mother had given me for my fifth birthday.  She had already been sick by then so I think she was trying to make up for that by getting me a gift, you know, one that I could remember her for when she died, and it was my first tea set ever.

Well, she bought me one, and I tried holding the cup by the handle, and when I did it broke. The handle broke off and fell to the floor crashing, porcelain hitting mahogany.

My mother laughed. She laughed the loudest and hardest she had ever laughed in those small five years that I had been alive. Me being a child, was perplexed at how she found a mess like that funny. Kutchel, which is my mother's name, told me that when she was a child, she had broken her teacup too. It is sort of a family tradition for us Ackerman's to break teacups now, and serves as a joke to all our relatives and a very nice story for our guests I suppose. She explained that the handles were too weak, and that was why she held her teacups from the brim instead of how the other people would.

She taught me how to hold the cup like her and the likes, but now, she makes me drink tea in front of her whenever I visit just to give her a good memory. I miss having her around.

I missed as Princess Nanaba left the room because when I snapped out of my thoughts Erwin was just about to call the next person's name.  I remembered briefly to wipe my mouth of Nifa and Nanaba's hand germs.

"Prince Eren Jaeger of Shiganshina, please enter the room." Erwin then whispered to me, "Please try to get along with him. You need to find a spouse sooner or later, and I rather it be sooner before you have to rule the kingdom alone at the young age of eighteen, and that's only a year and three quarters away." He grumbled, most likely from he himself being eighteen and five-twelfths.

I rolled my eyes for about the millionth time today and looked forward at a green eyed beauty. His eyes were amazing, the color of emeralds, his hair the color of a rare delicacy, chocolate. His whole outfit just screamed _"royalty"_ and he seemed like he was determined to do something, and I didn't have the slightest idea as to what he was going to do. This ought to be good.

He stepped not before the steps to my throne, oh no, he stepped right up to my feet, kneeled down on one knee and kissed my hand. I was slightly irritated at the gesture because I hardly knew him and he was just stepping over all of my boundaries and lines. But that's what made him interesting. He even had the audacity to give me such a smug smirk that I wanted to just wipe it off his face, that little brat. I arched one of my eyebrows, and sneered at him.

"Good evening Prince Levi Ackerman, I am Eren Jaeger of Shiganshina, pleased to make your acquaintance."

At least he had manners. He just looks at me, still holding my hand might I add, so I pulled it away from him, wiping the back of it where he had kissed on Erwin. He just snickered and I clicked my tongue.

Shitty brat.

"The pleasure must be yours because it definitely isn't mine."

"Oh, temper, temper now, I am a guest here am I not? But I guess we all have our faults, some more than others. I can live with it if you do become my future husband."

"And what makes you fit to be my future husband?

"I'm not going to take any of your shit, _your highness_.  Also, a little birdy told me that you need to find a husband soon, and I'm pretty sure by how the two other princesses looked angered and belittled, that I might be the only one who can stand you and your obviously rude behavior."

He glanced over at Erwin, stood, and leaned over to whisper in my ear.

"So what's it going to be Princy, give me a year here, and then you can tell me whether or not you want me to be your kingdom's future king."

His lips brushed over the shell of my ear and I shivered. I scowled and rubbed at my ear, glaring slightly, thinking over his question and my response. He knew I want what's best for my kingdom instead of my own happiness, but he's an arrogant brat, who knows if he can rule it with me? _But Levi, it's just a trial run, it's not like you have to marry him tomorrow, and it's only a year, you'll have nine months before your eighteenth birthday to decide if he is fit to be your husband and future ruler of Sina._

Damn, somehow I gave myself no choice.

"Fine. Only a year, no more, and you aren't guaranteed to be my husband by that time, I can change my mind whenever I want. Go back to Shiganshina, pack your stuff, then come back here. I'll have one of my servants await your arrival."

He looked so pleased with himself.

"I'll be counting down the seconds until I return. See you soon Prince Levi Ackerman."

I scoffed as he left and turned to look at Erwin who looked just as pleased as Eren.

"What are you so happy about?" I snapped.

"Oh, nothing really, nothing at all... When's the wedding?"

I growled and punched him in the arm as he chuckled that deep annoying laugh. Stupid royal advisor. If he wasn't one of my best friends, I would have fired him.

"Let Hange be the one to look out for Eren, maybe they'll scare him away."

"Of course, Levi, I'll tell them immediately. At least they'll be able to meet your future husband. 

He laughed as he walked out of the room before I could throw anything at him. I sighed and laid back on my throne. Why did I agree to this again? At least Eren is cute, and you know you have no other choice, you're going to turn eighteen soon, and mother is very sick, she can't keep ruling like that, you just can't let her do that. I sighed and closed my eyes, falling asleep.

This is going to be one hell of a year.


	2. The Brat Brought His Whole Fucking Entourage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whelp, here is the second shit in this toilet. I'm surprised by the good feedback in the last chapter honestly. Thank you very much to you guys, and I will try and get this finished right now, but using a Windows phone and trying to use Google Docs it kinda hard. Yep. Well, read this I you want, and hopefully I'll see you all next week! Also, I couldn't wait to get this chapter out, I couldn't leave you guys hanging with only one chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I put the notes in the summary region on accident, but I'm too lay to fix it, so this chapter is basically Levi thinking bout some stuff and Eren moving in. But some shit goes down, and basically starts a rivalry between Eren, his friends, and Levi. Also, the Special Op squad will come into play by helping Levi out in this war.

Fuck.  Fuck, fuck, fuck.  Why did I agree to this again?

I was contemplating the reason why I was going to let Eren into my castle for a year.  A year.  One whole fucking year.  A whole 365 days.  I made Erwin send away all the other suitors when he came back after telling Hange the news because I was done after only talking to two of those damn princesses and one prince that I was going to have to live with for a year.  I paced around in the throne room with Erwin silently snickering at me.  I growled at him from still being groggy after waking up.

"What the fuck are you laughing at, Eyebrows?"

He sighed at the nickname that I had given to him when  I was five, but laughed nonetheless.  But seriously.  His eyebrows are huge, they're like giant yellow caterpillars.  I tried not to look, but my eyes kept drifting back to them.  They were hypnotic.  I cut off my thoughts when he started speaking again.

"I'm just surprised that you let him stay here.  It's not like you at all."

"Yeah, well I promised myself that I would try and make an effort to get a  husband.  The good part is is that he isn't horrendously ugly."

Erwin laughed again and I scowled at him, going back to my throne and swinging both my legs over the left armrest, and settling my head down onto its counterpart.  I held my crown in both my hands so that it wouldn't fall off my head and brought it above my face to examine the piece of gold jewelry.

It had a few emeralds that looked like that stupid kid's eyes with one of them missing, creating a crater in the gold, and I just hoped that I wouldn't hate him as much as I already did.  My crown was one of the only things I liked about the stupid royalty thing.  Hell, the only thing I wished I could be doing was being back in the Underground with Isabel and Farlan...I knew that couldn't happen though.  It was impossible.  I couldn't go back, not after all that I had been through for those six years that I had spent in the Underground.

I sighed and Erwin could already tell what was wrong, and he knew that it was best to leave me to my own devices.  I clutched the valuable piece of metal to my chest and closed my eyes, hoping that it would keep the tears from appearing in my eyes at all.  I knew I shouldn't have regretted anything, but I had kept it in for too long.  Two years not talking about it really messed me up, and I knew that I would have to talk about it to someone, or just...put it out there somehow.

I let out a puff of air and craned my neck to look at the giant blonde next to my throne.

"Hey, Erwin,  tonight leave a piece of paper and a quill with ink on my desk in my room.  I have something important that I need to do.”

“Of course, and I think Prince Eren will be back in three days time, so prepare the castle by doing your extensive cleaning spree within that time limit.”

I nodded my head in confirmation as I sat up, put on my crown, and planned out how this was going to go.  I made a mental list of how many guest rooms there were, where they were positioned, and where Prince Eren was going to be.  Of course I decided that he was going to be put in the room the farthest away from mine in the Left Wing as mine was in the Right Wing.  I would have made him sleep outside, but  alas I could not because it is too, _inappropriate_.  Well screw Erwin and his rules.

I got up and tried to get my mind off of everything that has happened by going to that wonderful supply closet full of all my cleaning supplies. I tied a bandanna around my mouth and hair, and filled the mop bucket with water and soap. This castle wasn't going to clean its self, and I sure as hell didn't trust anyone else to clean it up to my standards. I could practically see all the dust particles.

***

It was as Erwin said, three days later when Prince Eren returned. The only thing that I didn't expect was all the people he brought with him. There had to be at least ten people with him as he walked up to the steps of the castle, and I could see them all through my window. This kid had some nerve, I'll give him that. Some blonde mushroom -was that a girl?- who seemed to be Prince Eren's advisor knocked on the castle doors, and I rushed all the way down the stairs trying to make it into the foyer in time, but I bumped into one of the maids, Petra.

"Hmph," I grunted from the impact, "Miss Petra, I have to go." I rushed away as she shouted out, "It is okay Prince Levi, sorry for the inconvenience!" Petra is a nice girl, yet she had to come here in the worst conditions possible. She had come begging on the steps of the castle for work, even willing to sell her body, even though she was starving and weak, and only a fourteen year old, and I fifteen.

I didn't feel pity for her, no, she was someone who I took under my wing to nurture to make her better. She has been grateful ever since, and started working as one of my maids as a form of her thankfulness. I had to remind myself later to do something somewhat nice for her later.

I finally made it downstairs, and opened the door for all of those people that I was going to have to let inside. I was furious. I was furious at Eren, at the stupid royalty thing, and at all of people outside of my house.

"Prince Jaeger, what in God's name do you think you are doing with all these people here?" I questioned, my voice eerily calm, yet I was clenching my fists and jaw. That coy bastard just smiled at me. He _smiled_ at me. He had so much nerve. "Well, since I am staying here a year I can't leave all my friends behind at my castle now can I?" I almost growled at him.

I turned around swiftly and turned my head to call over my shoulder.

"Do not touch anything, do not breathe on anything, and absolutely do **not** go anywhere without my permission. If you do, I will not hesitate to kick you out of LP, and send the Prince away too. And Jaeger?"

"Yes _your majesty_ ?

"These little shits are your responsibility, whatever they do gets blamed on you, got it?"

"Mhmm..."

He wasn't even paying attention as he did all the things I told him not to. He was tapping the glass on one of my mother's vases, and huffing air out in puffs trying to de-smudge his finger prints from it. He walked over to random doors and opened them as the mushroom -who I still couldn't define their gender- just held their hand to their head in exasperation as if this has happened before. I don't doubt it hasn't. I just watched him, glaring a lot as he just did whatever he wanted.

"Ahem. Prince Jaeger? Do you need something?" My tone was slightly more than irritated, and yet he still did the most idiotic thing he possibly could at that moment.

"Oh, yes, I'm parched, can you go get me some water?"

He smirked at me from over his shoulder as he kept on messing with the same vase. At sometime during this whole confrontation, Erwin managed to somehow sneak himself into the room and was conversing with Eren's advisor. I motioned for Erwin to listen to me and I said, "Erwin, can you go fetch a glass of water, apparently our guest is _parched_." Erwin went into the kitchen and got a glass of water, and I pulled it from his hands. Some black haired girl in a red scarf was right behind Eren, and was glaring at me as I held the cup in my hands. Well then, time to break someone else I guess. I splashed the cup of water at Eren, my face straight.

All of Eren's friends gasped and stared at me wide-eyed as Eren's hair was dripping in front of himself. The girl behind him got a little soaked too, and I didn't even flinch as she was turning a shade of red from anger. Eren glared at me from behind his soaked bangs.

"Is that better?"

"Perfectly fine." He gritted out.

"That is well. Erwin, show Prince Jaeger to his room and figure out where to put the rest of them. I am going to my room, I hope you got more of ink and quill that I asked for? I ran out yesterday."

Erwin nodded and politely escorted the prince away from me as all of the other people stood there awkwardly waiting for Erwin to escort them each to their respective rooms. There were a few couples and one of them consisted of a freckled kid and a guy who resembled a horse. Hmm, they seemed like they were good kids. Maybe his friends were more tolerable than him.

I walked quickly up the stairs and into my room, looking for my refreshed set of writing supplies. I already had five pages filled with my thoughts of what had happened all that time ago. I started writing again.

 

 

 

_I still can't get their faces out of my head. Isabel's cold lifeless eyes, her head detached from her body, eyes not shining like they had been just a few hours before. Farlan, his body torn in half, intestines spilling out from inside of him. They haunt my dreams, and everytime I close my eyes I can see them. I wish they could have lived longer, they were only fourteen fucking years old, and they had seen the world and dealt with it as if they were adults. I never want to see anyone se living like that._

_Maybe that's why I took in Petra? Maybe that's why I took in Eld, Gunter, and Oluo? I don't know. I just want the best for my friends and my kingdom, but I need to move on from Isabel and Farlan. I don't want to forget about them though, and that's what scares me.  I don't want to stop writing. If I do, I won't be able to stop thinking. It's so quiet without them here, and I just don't know what to do anymore. I don't think anyone will ever read these but if I do let you, then just know this is easier than saying it out loud. I shall try to sleep now since it is three o'clock in the morning. Goodnight to me._

_-Levi Ackerman_

 

 

 

I sighed as I put the quill down, and I knew that I would have dark circles under my eyes come morning. I was starting to look like a raccoon. I undressed and put on my sleep wear, getting into bed, sleep coming naturally as exhaustion finally got to me.

My dreams were not dreams, but nightmares of Isabel, Farlan, Petra, and Eld, Gunter, and Oluo. I woke up in a cold sweat, scared enough to not go back to sleep for the rest of the time I had until everyone woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boom. Got this out early, yay for me, I didn't think I could do it. Comments, kudos, bookmarks, subscriptions are appreciated, it is currently 12:05 in the morning for me, (12 AM) and I still haven't done my homework. Yay for me. I'll see you all next week. Bai.


	3. Breakfast With Kutchel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time with the Special Operations Squad, and Eren and Levi have quality time with Kutchel. War has been declared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late, had some issues about what to write in this chapter, but there is now some more character development! Yay!

As expected, I had even darker circles around the bottom lid of my eyes, and crust in the crevices of my eyes keeping them shut tightly.  I groaned and pressed my hands into my eyes and rubbed them roughly with my palms to wake me up somewhat more.  It was still dark out, and I knew it was around 6 A.M., the time I normally wake up at.  I took a short shower, dressed in my princely attire, and walked out of my room because I would not be able to go back to sleep after all the nightmares and such.

The door creaked open slowly, and it echoed around the house as I cringed slightly at the fact that it was not oiled properly.  I shut the door with a _thud_ and shuffled down the stairs and hall to the foyer that led to all the halls and rooms in the manor.  I took many turns and long hallways to the kitchen where I saw Eld, Gunter, Oluo, and Petra, scuffling around the kitchen preparing breakfast for everyone consisting of toast, strawberry jam, potatoes, eggs, bacon, and sausage from the pigs and cows that Mike, the slaughterhouse owner, killed this morning I supposed.

"Good morning, Prince Levi." They chorused at the same time.  They all greeted me and bowed even though I told them time and time before not to because they were not in anyway lower than me.  I guess that's one thing the brat and I had in common, we didn't treat our servants like they were... well, _servants_.

"Morning, I thought I told you all to just say hi, not bow and all that other shit."

I was exasperated, and exhausted, and all the other words that started with ex-.  Petra then continued to pipe up. "But Sir, you are still royalty, we have to treat you this way.  Besides, it's kind of fun to see the look you get when we do all of that."  She giggled.

"And what do I look like?"  I smirked slightly and rested half of my body atop the counter.  Oluo cut the strawberries into tiny pieces for the jam and said, "Tch, it's your expression and you don't even know what it looks like."  Petra rolled her eyes and smacked him upside the head. "Shut up, Oluo, don't talk to the Prince that way. Oh, look! That's the face!"  She pointed at me, and I scowled in confusion.

"You look happy when we do that.  Almost content by being looked up to."  Eld and Gunter laughed, Eld starting out their sentence. "She's right, I wonder what you'll look like when we start calling you _King Levi_." Gunter picked up where Eld left off. "Oh, I can imagine it now, the moment he finally smiles instead of that half-assed smirk."  They both cackled and Petra was yelling at all of them as I just shook my head at all of them, huffing out some sort of laugh.

"You all suck."  I lifted my self up and went to the kettle to start fixing my tea.  They just laughed again, and this morning didn't seem to be going too terribly... Until I heard a barrage of feet thudding down the stairs of the west wing.  I heard a feminine voice scream out something about food and a male telling the girl, Sasha to, "Shut the hell up."  At least the guy had his priorities in check.  I scowled and poured my tea into my cup and started to drink the therapeutic liquid.

Someone must have run into a wall or something, but a moment later the two people that were arguing came flying into the kitchen. 

"See Connie, I told you there was food!" The girl all but shouted, a trail of saliva running down her chin from just looking at the food.  "Yeah, yeah, whatever, it's still not... done... yet..." Connie trailed off as he saw me glaring at the both of them from over the rim of my cup, and I think I heard him gulp slightly.  Then they both shouted in realization at the fact that I was in the room.

"G-Good morning, Your Majesty!" They both bowed and my scowl furrowed even deeper.  "Stop bowing, and _don't_ apologize for it." I said as they opened their mouths to do just that, then they shut them tightly.  They looked just about ready to shit themselves.  I calmed down, and said in a softer manner because a voice in the back of my mind told me, _It's not their fault, they don't know any better. To them, you're just some prince._ "If you guys are going to be staying here for a year, I don't want you to greet me like that.  Tell that to the rest of the guests if you want because I sure as hell don't want to."  I tried joking, and they relaxed, both taking on and expression of slight respect and gratitude.  At least they don't hate me, I may have even made peace with them.

I heard slow thuds and groans coming from the stairs.  "And if you two could go and direct everyone to the dining hall, that would be very helpful." My face was still blank, but I wasn't yelling at them, I was talking to them like I would with anyone else.  As my equal.  Well, anyone else except for the brat.  He was rude and disrespectful, so I would be the same to him.  His friends, I could tolerate.

Sasha and Connie had a look of confusion across their faces, not knowing how they were supposed to show everyone else the dining hall if they didn't even know where it was themselves. "Gunter, Eld, can you show them to the dining hall, then come back so that you can help finish breakfast, I'll take over for the both of you in the meanwhile."  They nodded and I started to peel the potatoes with speed and precision as Oluo kept cutting strawberries, and Petra was setting the dishes up with meat and the toast, spreading the jam that Oluo had already finished onto it.  Eld and Gunter came back and started to cut the potatoes into slivers to eat as hash browns.

We finished making the food and worked as a team to put the food on the plates.  Since there was twenty people in all, we had made a surplus of food just in case, and we had enough for everyone to have second servings, it was a lot of food for five people to take to the dining hall, even if it was closer to the kitchen than the West Wing Staircase.  I took five plates just like Petra, Eld, Oluo, and Gunter, one in each hand, one balancing on each of my biceps, and one on my head.

The only reason I knew how to do that was because Petra said it would help with my balance and sense of objects.  Of course she was right though.  It was also funny to see everyone's faces as I came in behind them, and set the table.  I could also see Eren praying that I would drop the food all over myself along with Mikasa.  Fucking brat.  When the table was set with all of Eren's friends and Petra, Eld, Oluo, Gunter, Hange, and Erwin, I got everyone's attention. 

"Well, even though it is all your first day here, I have some... business to take care of.  I hope you find breakfast enjoyable, and if you want to thank anyone for the food, thank Petra, Eld, Oluo, and Gunter."

I pointed to each of them as I said their names, and Petra blushed, so did Oluo, but he scowled and crossed his arms, Eld waved, and Gunter looked to Eld before he did the same.  I could see everyone mumbling about where I was going.  I went up to Hange's chair and whispered into their ear, "Try to keep them entertained, and if they are still hungry, there is seconds in the kitchen.  I'm going to go eat with my mom.  Don't let any of the shit on the floor or paint on the walls."

Hange cackled and I patted their back as they agreed.  I walked to the kitchen and gathered my mother and I's food.  I had to go back into the dining hall to get to the hall that led to my mothers room, and the door just so happened to be right in Prince Eren's leg range as I felt a foot trip me.  I gasped and tried to hold on to the kettle of tea, the tea cups, and the plates, but they clattered to the ground leaving me on my hands and knees, food splattered everywhere.  I heard nothing.  Silence.  No one dared move a mussel, and I glared back at Eren.

"Petra, I am sorry to disturb you from your meal, but can you come clean this up I have somewhere I need to be, I will be back later to do a more thorough job."

She nodded her head furiously up and down, and I went back to the kitchen to get new food for my mother and I, and waited for a fresh pot of tea.  When it was done, I walked back with everything into the dining hall, taking slow steps and Eren just sat there, this smug look on his face as he ate, and I walked past the mess that had been made.  I opened the door to the hallway, and turned around to tell everyone, "Please don't make anymore messes, I know _most of you_ aren't children.  I sent a pointed look to Eren, and let the door slam shut behind me as I walked into the hall.

***

I knocked quietly on the door and awaited permission to go in.  "Who is it?"  A thin and frail voice spoke as soon as she could.  "It's Levi, mother." A small smile overtook her lips as she told me to co.e in and shut the door behind myself.

"Good morning sweetie.  What did you bring this time?"

"Eggs, bacon, sausage, toast with jam, potatoes, and some tea."

I smiled and she chuckled, but then started coughing from the strain.  I gave her a tissue from beside her bed, and she wiped up the blood from her lips.  I bit my lip and looked away because it hurt to see my mother in pain.

"Take it easy, don't strain yourself too much."

"Heh, when have I ever done that?"

She smiled again as I sat on her bed with her, my legs hanging off the side.  She brought one of her pale hands up to my face and stroked my cheek lovingly, and I nuzzled her hand with my cheek, closed my eyes, and smiled genuinely.

"I love it when you smile, Rivaille.  It makes me so happy.  And you've gotten so big, I haven't noticed that my baby boy has grown up to be such a fine young man."

My own hand came up and enclosed itself over the one on my cheek.

"I know mother.  It seems like the time has slipped away from us."

"Levi?  Do you know how much I love you?"

"I'd like to think I have an idea."

We both laughed lightly, and she just said,

"I love you more than the entire universe, beyond infinities, and beyond death.  I love you, my sweet little Levi."

She smiled and I started to cry.  "I love you too, mom, I love you so, so much.  I'm sorry for leaving all those years ago, I'm so sorry." I hugged her and sobbed into her shoulder as I cuddled with her in the bed, as if I were a child again.  I loved her French accent, the way she smelled, her motherly aura, and her smile.  But I couldn't help the fact that there was that nagging voice in the back of my head screaming that it sounded too much like a goodbye.

"I heard that there is a prince staying here for a year, and I would like to meet him, can you go get him for me?"

I cringed, but my mom wanted to meet him, and she looked so happy, I couldn't deny her.

"Okay, I'll bring him, finish your food and tea whilst you wait."

I kissed her forehead and she nodded as I wiped away my tears and went to go fetch Eren. 

***

Everyone was still eating when I came back into the dining hall.  But there was laughter and joy until I came in.  Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch me go up to Eren.

"Prince Eren, I need you to come with me please."

"Why?" He responded and crossed his arms like a kid.

"Just... Please come with me for a moment." I said then whispered into his ear so that no one else could hear. "The queen wants to see you."

His eyes widened, and he stood up ridged,  fidgeting and followed me.  When we were in the quiet hall, Eren started talking.

"Why does the queen want to see me?" He sounded a little self-conscious as he started primping his clothing to it's utmost perfection.

"She heard you were staying here and she wanted to meet you."

He nodded and the door was right in front of us. I knocked again and said, "It's Levi, I brought the prince."  I heard her tell us to come in, and Eren gasped as he saw her.

"U-Um, hello Queen Kutchel.". He bowed and my mom shook her head.  "Nonsense!  Call me Kutchel, and don't bow anymore!"

I laughed and saw Eren relax a little.  "Mother, don't be like that, it would have been better if you made fun of him by talking about how constipated he looked." She snorted, and smiled at me, so I smiled back.

"Hey, Eren, don't you think Levi would look better if he smiled more often, just look at that face!  Now he looks like the constipated one!"  I scowled and Eren just laughed as my mother poked fun at me.

"Levi, baby, I'm just joking!"

"No, you just like seeing me suffer." I smiled and made a face at her, and she laughed again.

"I think that face suits him better though." Eren said, to which I looked at both of them with my face scrunched up in the ugliest way possible.

"Levi, you are bringing shame to this families good looks."

We all laughed again, and my mother, Eren, and I just spent the rest of the morning talking to each other.  It was lunch time when we finally got to the teacup story.

"Wait, wait, wait, let me get this straight, child Kutchel, and child Levi broke the handle of a teacup and that's why you two drink like that?"

"Yup." I clinked cups with my mother and Eren was laughing as everything that happened at breakfast was long gone from our memories.  "It's even better when you actually see his face though.  It was priceless, he looked like he had just killed someone!"  Mother laughed along with Eren, and so was I.  I heard someone open the door and saw Petra with three plates of food for us.  I was caught mid-laugh and Petra was smiling from ear to ear when she saw me.

"Your Majesties, here is your lunch!" Petra bowed and my mother told her, "Thank you, Petra dear, go eat your own lunch before it gets cold."

All the servants were like sons or daughters, or in Hange's case, just her children.  Petra left, and I could see that she was going to tell everyone about how I was laughing with my mother and Eren.

The rest of the day went on with me and Eren with my mother, just talking, but when we were about to leave, my mother kept Eren in the room and made me wait outside.  I could hear everything clearly though.

"Eren, I haven't seen Levi laugh like that in years.  Please take care of him.  You're the only prince that he's even shown an interest in, so you should feel lucky."

"Well, I wouldn't say that he particularly likes me..."

"Tch! Of course he doesn't!  That's why I want you to make him like you!  By the way he was acting today, I bet you're not that far away from making him want to be your friend.  Just take it slowly, you have a whole year to woo him, I think you can manage within that timeframe."

"I'll try, but he is kind of rude, so it might take a while."

I could hear them chuckle on the other side of the door, and my mother spoke again.

"I have high hopes for you, Eren Jaeger.  If anyone should be able to have my son, it should be you."

"Good night, Kutchel."

"Forget about what I said about calling me Kutchel, call me mom.

"Okay, good night... Mom."

I could hear the slight waver in his voice.

"Good night, sweetheart, I believe in you."

Eren came out of the room a minute later, and he was rubbing his eyes.  I walked him to his room in silence.

"I still don't like you, you know."

I said when we were at his door.

"I don't like you either."  He smirked and I nodded at him, a smirk on my face too.

"Then, let's let the war begin.  Night, Jaeger."

"Night, Ackerman."

I turned and left, not even realizing that I had a smile on my face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! End of chapter! I hope you all enjoyed this, I cried when I wrote the Levi and Kutchel interaction part ;-; New chapter will probably be out sometime this week. Probably.


	4. Proper Introductions, And The Person In The Green Pajamas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren plans his war against Levi, and Levi plans his war against Eren. Petra doesn't approve, but she lets them do whatever they want anyway. The dorkiness ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well then! So many comments were left on the last chapter, and my heart is about to explode. Seriously, I could not stop smiling. I'll stop talking... er, writing, so that you can continue reading this... thing.

I woke up the day after we had declared war, and was starting to be more... cautious.  I checked my door to make sure there was not bucket of water above it, or if they did anything to my clothes whilst I slept.  Hell, I even snuck around in the hallways to be sure there was nothing wrong with the flooring.  I just hoped that I could maybe at some point take a break and be off my guard... But he never made a move to strike.  _Yet_.  He kept glancing at me during breakfast, with this smug grin like he had the other day when he tripped me.

I had completely forgotten about that yesterday because of my mother, but my rage was back, and back in full force.  I growled lightly under my breath, and turned away from looking at him because I could just see it in his eyes, _"Ha, I found one of your weaknesses without even trying!"_ Fuck him and his stupid fucking eyes. 

Hange and Erwin were no help, they were just laughing at my pain from each side of me, and I kicked them both in the shins sending Hange into a laughing fit, and Erwin cursing at my, _"Damn tiny feet."_ hurting him.  That's what you get, you blonde bastard.

Mikasa and Armin, the blonde coconut (who I found out from Erwin was in fact a male), were sitting next to Eren.  Mikasa was sending me death glares when she wasn't looking at Eren and fussing over the fact that he couldn't eat without making a mess (That much I could agree with, somehow he got some food in his hair.).  Armin looked like he felt out of place, and I could see him sneaking glances at a book that he had hidden under the table.  I need to show Armin the library in the North wing, near my mother's room.  I now started keeping a list of what I should do for Eren's friends because I didn't want to be enemies with them, then have them help Eren in our little war. 

A blonde girl with a glare that was almost as frightening as mine sat beside Mikasa, and I had to take note of how she looked almost disinterested in everything but looked... happier when she looked at all of her friends.  An Ice Queen.  Sasha and Connie were next to her, Sasha next to the blonde girl, and Connie next to a tall, sweaty looking boy with what I could assume was his boyfriend what with him snuggling into the big bulky blonde's side.  They were basically sitting in the same chair next to Gunter and Eld. 

On the other side of the table, next to Armin, sat the Horse Face and Freckles, and they were being too cute with each other.  Like, really cute. Freckles was feeding the horse Face strawberries coated in sugar.  Way too sweet.  I think I got a cavity from looking at them, but I just loved how in love they looked.  Next to Freckles was Female Freckles, with a petite blonde girl who looked kind of kickass.  Female Freckles had her arm wrapped around the kickass girl, and on a chair over one sat Oluo acting like me, and trying to impress Petra who sat in between him and Erwin.  I've been trying to get them together for as long as Petra had recovered from all the trauma she had suffered before she came here.

I was really going to need to learn everyone's names, so I guess now is as good as anytime.

"Oi, Horse Face, Freckles, Female Freckles, Kickass Girl, Ice Queen, Sweaty Tree, and the Sweaty Tree's boyfriend, what're your guys' names?"

Erwin was whisper yelling at me for giving them stupid nicknames as they all just stopped talking and looked at me.  Ice Queen glared, Horse Face groaned, Freckles Blushed, Female Freckles pulled Kickass Girl closer to her, the Sweaty Tree just sweat even more, and Sweaty Tree's boyfriend just smirked.

"Well?"

Horse Face spoke up first.

"My name isn't Horse Face,"  Cue Eren snorting, and the horse glaring at him. "I'm Jean Kirschtein."  They went in order from how I called their nicknames.

"I'm Marco Bodt!"

"Ymir.  Just Ymir."

"Historia Reiss."

"...Annie.  Annie Leonheart."

"Ah, I'm Bertolt Fubar!"

"Reiner Braun."

I nodded at them, and I could kind of tell who would stay out of the war and just watch like Marco, Bertolt, Historia, and if Historia stayed out, then Ymir most likely will too.  I wasn't sure about Armin because he is basically Eren's best friend.  Jean seemed to not like Eren so much, but I couldn't be sure that he wouldn't help him just because of that.

We finished breakfast with a few glares coming my way, but I didn't care.  I told Erwin to bring Petra, Eld, Oluo, Gunter, Hange, and himself to my room as Eren was telling his friends to go to his too. 

***

When we all were in my room, I started to tell them what had happened for the war to start.

"Last night when I took Eren to his room after we were done visiting my mom, we kind of declared war against each other because of him being a little brat."

"Prince Levi, do you really think you should go along with this?"  Petra whined.  "It will only cause trouble!"

"There's no going back, I already said yes to this war."

"But, wait, why do we have to know all of this?" Eld chimed.

"That is where you guys come in.  I want you guys to help me."

"Levi, I am speaking as your friend, and not your royal adviser.  This is a terrible idea."

"Ohoho, on the contrary, Erwin, I think it is an excellent idea!"

"Thank you, Hange."

"Tch, I think we should teach the greenhorn a lesson and win this thing."

"I'm only in if Eld is."

"I think we should do it, Gunter."

Erwin sighed, and gave in with Gunter, but not Petra. 

"Do whatever you guys want, I'm not helping at all."

So that left me with Eld, Gunter, Oluo, Erwin, and Hange.  Still not that much compared to Eren's group if he got all of them to agree, but still good.  Erwin was going to make all the plans because he is a master strategist.  If there were any wars going on between Sina and another kingdom then Erwin would be our Commander. 

"I'll have a plan ready by tomorrow.  Levi, you owe me if this goes on the whole time Eren is here."

362 days of him here left.  I don't know if it will end early or what not, but I will win.

***

_Darkness.  Darkness everywhere. The alley walls seemed suffocating as I sat with my legs pulled up to my chest, my stomach rumbling in hunger, willing to eat anything that remotely seemed like it was edible.  I turned to see a boy about my age looking at me with an outstretched hand with an apple in it._

_"HI, I'm Farlan, do you want it?"_

_I looked at the fruit wearily, my stomach telling me to just take it, but my mind still not blinded enough by hunger to tell me,_ "No, it could be dangerous." _I mulled over my thoughts before my stomach growled again and I cringed in pain.  I was only out here two weeks and getting by on scraps that I found in random places.  I took the apple, smelled it, and taking a small bite from the juicy, red, fruit.  It was the only thing I've eaten in three days, and my next bite was bigger than the last as I realized that it was safe to eat._

_"What's your name?"_

_I looked at Farlan and swallowed my bite.  
_

_"Levi."_

_"How old are you?"_

_"Nine."_

_"Oh, I'm Eight.  Do you... Can we stay together, it gets boring being all by yourself, ya know?"_

_"...Sure."_

_I don't know why I trusted him, maybe it was because he gave me the apple, but I stuck with him.  but when I closed my eyes, the second I opened them and looked at him, he wasn't the same.  He was split  in half, no body parts from the waist down, his intestines spilling out of his body, some of his organs laying on the ground, his eyes wide open.  His arms were splayed out around him, looking like he was just tossed on the floor.  He looked older though.  I was scared.  One of the only people I could trust was right in front of me.  Dead._

_I screamed.  I screamed until my lungs and throat hurt, my eyes filled with tears, some of them spilling over and streaming down my face, the ones in my eyes obscuring my vision.  I was still screaming my heart out._

***

I woke up screaming just as loud as I was in my nightmare.  I couldn't stop even as I was almost gasping for air, my shrill screams bouncing off the walls of the castle.  I was scratching at my neck as a choked sob stopped my screaming.  I pushed myself so that my back was pressed against the bed frame, pulling my legs up to my chest like all those years ago, crying into my legs.  

Everyone already knew about my daily occurring nightmares, and I had told them all not to worry, but the ever so persistent Hange always came in at all hours of the night to calm me down.

And only I knew how much I needed it.

So I wasn't surprised when my door open and Hange sneaked inside.  They crawled onto my bed and pulled the covers over us, pulling me into a hug so that I could cry into their shoulder.  They stroked my head and whispered into my ear.

"Shh, Levi, it's all over now, you're safe, Isabel and Farlan are in a better place now, they aren't in the underground anymore, and neither are you."

"B-but, H-Hange, I-I-I," I hiccuped and struggled to breathe as Hange rubbed my back. "I c-can't get-t their f-faces out of m-my he-ead."

I let out a gargled yell, and Hange just held onto me tighter.

"Shhh, let it out, don't hold it in Levi.  It'll eat you alive if you let it.  Talk to me, what happened in your nightmare?"

Hange always knew what to say to calm me down.

"F-F-Farlan, wh-when I first met F-Farlan.  H-he gave me th-the apple, and wh-when I opened m-my e-eyes, he-he was d-dead!"

I sobbed even more, and tried wiping my tears away, but they just kept on coming.

"Come on Levi, lay down."

Hange laid me down with them, and I cuddled into their embrace.  After a while of just laying there with Hange, I calmed down.

"I'm sorry..." I said softly while they just petted my hair.

"Don't apologize, I think you've just been handling the emotional trauma quite well.  Some people can't even handle it and kill themselves."

"You know you wouldn't let me do that."

"I know I wouldn't.  I wouldn't even let you _think_ about doing that."

"I know you wouldn't."

They laid there with me until six in the morning and we got up and I tried to go on with my day like I normally would.  At least I didn't wake anyone else up with my screaming.  One time my nightmare was so bad that it woke up Petra who was all the way down the hall, the farthest away from me.  I had lost my voice for a whole week after that, and the worst part about it all was that I wasn't able to remember what happened in my dream, all i know is that it was terrible enough to make me thrash around, scream, and injure myself in my sleep. 

I had began to twist the knob on my door, but I heard hurried footsteps running away.  It didn't sound like more than one person, and I knew that nobody would snoop on me, unless it was one of the brats that Eren brought, or it could be him.  I opened  the door quickly,  but only caught sight of green pajamas as they turned a corner and left.

My eyes widened because what if that person told everyone else that the prince still has nightmares and has to have one of his friends come hold  him to make him stop crying?  It could get out, and then my people wouldn't want a weak person as a king.  I wouldn't be able to be the king so long as my people didn't want me to.

I sighed and banged my head against the door frame.

"Fuck."

I ran a hand through my already disheveled hair and went back into my room to take a shower.  I got undressed and stepped into my conjoining bathroom.  I turned on the water, and made it warm for me to be able to relax and have no more tension in my muscles.  I heard a knock on the door, right before Erwin came into the bathroom.  It didn't matter if I was naked, he's seen me with my clothed ripped and torn, bloody and battered on the street, he's seen me at my best and at my worst.  He was like my brother.  His voice came a little muffled from the other side of the shower.

"I made the plan.  We should wait until after dinner to go through with it.  "

"We can go over the plan when I'm done showering, or after dinner, and go away before someone barges in and gets the wrong idea."

"Levi, you know I would never even touch your dick with a ten inch pole."

"i know, but go away, it's rude to be in the bathroom with someone when their trying to shower.  If you need to take a shit, do it then leave."

I shooed him away, and closed the glass door whilst he just replied with:

"Maybe I will, don't test me Levi, I will make your whole bathroom and room smell like shit."

He chuckled and left as I rolled my eyes.  He's as shitty as my jokes.  I finished cleaning myself and just stood under the water for a few minutes, letting the water flow freely across my body.  I just let myself be consumed  by the water, and not the thoughts of whomever it was that had been listening to me and Hange, or how much they had heard, or if they even heard anything at all since we were only talking at five in the morning, a whole hour away.

If I could figure out who it was, then I could just order them to not tell a soul about it.  I just want what's best for my kingdom...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okaaaayyyyyyyy, yaaaaaaayyyyyy, you finally made it my friend, you did it! You reached the end of chapter fouuuuurrrrr! Do I sound too energetic? Meh, it's fiiiinnnnneeee. If you want, follow me on tumblr, I am AwkwardlyMeHere and on instagram, I am @anything_and_everything_snk. Please like me. Please.


	5. Paint, Stars, and The Basement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erwin and the rest of them gather in Levi's room to hear the plan. Petra goes with them just to make sure they don't kill anyone. Some fluff and the basement. No smut yet. If anyone isn't comfortable with reading about panic attacks, please don't read this, I don't want to trigger anyone and cause them to have one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, I have had some troubles lately, and if you want to know about it, go to my instagram because I do not want to put it on here. Just in case, my instagram is @heichooseyou now. Sorry for the wait, but here it is, chapter 5.

After my shower, I had spent most of the day inside my room,writing down all of he contents of my dream in full detail. Petra would occasionally come into my room to give me breakfast and lunch with a few snacks in between so that I wouldn't starve myself.  No one else came into my room until dinner.  When Petra brought me my food, Erwin, Hange, Eld, Oluo, and Gunter all came in along with her.  I took my plate of food, and before I took my first bite, I asked Erwin,  "What's the plan?"

"Well, I was thinking very carefully about this, and how not to practically kill Eren in the process.  We all have an advantage with us being here longer than him, plus we know the castle like the back of our hands by this point.  We should have Levi pretend to be nice to Eren, lead him into the basement, and lock him in there for the night.  It's not the best prank in the world, but at least it will probably scare him enough before we get to the real pranks and such."

"I think it's fine for now, but we should up our ante for the next prank, we don't know how far he's willing to go with the pranks, and if they attack with much more force than us, then we are definitely screwed."

"Oh my heavens, Prince Levi, you do not seriously want to go through with this, right?!  After all, he is still a prince too!"

I scowled at Petra, and sighed at the look on her face.  Hange looked back and forth between us trying to figure out if I would listen to her or not.  Of course, I would not though.  I turned away from her, and began talking again.

"We are doing this tonight, correct?"

"Yes, we do not have to prepare for it, so we can do his whenever you want.  It is already approximately half past 8, you can go find Eren now if you want, or I could, either way is acceptable."

"I shall go." I said and stood up with Petra complaining behind me.  I ignored her though, and went to the most reasonable place to look for Eren.  His room.  I hesitated to knock at first, but eventually I did, three clear and loud knocks that reverberated through the door.  A feint and muffled, _'Come in!'_ was shouted from the other side, to which I obliged.  It took some force to push the creaky door open, but it did open with a wood chip flying across the floor and hitting Eren's foot

"Oh, it's you."  He didn't seem pleased to see me, but at least he wasn't telling me to go away.

"Yeah.  It's me.  I was wondering if we could..."  I didn't think about what to say to get him to go to the basement with me, so I trailed off at the end, not completing my sentence.

"Wondering if we could...?"

"Talk.  Not here though, in the basement.  No one ever goes down there for anything and it's very quiet..."  I kept on trailing off and I sounded like such an idiot when I did.

"I know I've only been here three days, and I really hope that I am not in anyway at risk of being killed."  He awkwardly chuckled and looked as if he actually thought that I would kill him. 

"No, no one is being killed, I just... I want to try and become your friend so that it makes this year a bit easier."  He looked shocked and scared at the same time, glancing somewhere in the room every so often (i.e. every ten seconds).

"Um, uh, yeah!  Yeah, that sounds, uh, great."  He looked like he was going to tell me something, but before he could even make a sound, I felt something wet and gooey dripping down the side of my face.  I moved my pupils to the side to try and see what was on my face.  To get a better look at what it was, I used my hand and tried to wipe off a glob of whatever had been sprayed at me.  My hand was in front of my face, red decorating the palm, and at first I thought it was blood.  The worst thing about that was that it sent me into a panic attack.

My breathing became rapid, my heart rate accelerating as well.  My vision was swallowed by black every few seconds as I ran out of oxygen to breathe, my chest was clenching and I felt as if my whole body was about to explode from the pressure.  I was shaking and trembling as I fell to the floor.  I couldn't even tell what was happening around me, and I just felt so... out of it.  Like I couldn't control any of my actions.  I felt like a rag doll.  Every breath I took resulted in me either choking or coughing, but the tears never fell, they were just sitting on the edges of my eyelashes.  Images of Isabel and Farlan littered my mind, Uncle Kenny training me at the age of 5, my mother, and then all of the other children in The Underground.  I was overwhelmed, all I could see was blood.

Blood.

 

Blood, blood, blood. 

 

Red.

 

Severed heads.

 

Detached limbs. 

 

Our only chance at survival.

 

The Emerald from the crown.

 

My breath stuttered as I felt hands and arms wrap around me.

"Whatever is happening, stay calm.  You can get through this, Levi."  My breathing was coming back, but only a little.  My chest still hurt, and I could still see all of the images.  I whimpered and clawed at the chest of whoever it was because I couldn't think clearly.

"You're doing great, keep it up."  The voice was so calming, and it helped.

"Come on, Levi, deep breaths, count with me. One."

"O-one--"  I coughed and hacked, wheezing as my chest constricted again.

"You're doing so well, deep breaths.  Two."

"Two-o."  I was hiccuping and stuttering as I tried to regain my normal breathing pattern.

"That's it, three."

"Th-three-e."

"You've got it, four."

"Fo-our."

"Remember to breathe.  Five."

I took a deep breath, but then tried to repeat the number five, yet it was so difficult.  It was like I was drowning in air instead of water.

"Come on Levi, say it."

"Fi-five."

"Good, keep going, I know you can do it, just four more numbers.  Six."

I repeated six, seven, eight and nine, after him and I was slowly starting to calm down, and when we finally said ten I could see again although my breathing was ragged, but it was better than before.  I could feel Eren stroking my hair and trying to keep me at a stable state.  I went limp in his arms for a second then asked, "What happened?"  He looked a little ashamed as he started to speak.

"I... I made Armin make a trap, he heard you and um, all of your friends talking right now and set it up... we already had it made so that's all he did and then left so he wouldn't get in trouble...  It was a little mechanism that he put on the ceiling to detect movement then release paint on top of any person who was moving. "  I looked up and saw what he was talking about, the thing was dripping with what I now knew as paint and not blood.  I slightly glared at Eren and sighed.

"Let's just go, I'll clean this shit up later."

He nodded and followed me down the corridors and down the stairs until we reached the two damaged and old wooden doors, and I brought out a little key to unlock them.  They moaned and groaned from not being used in so long, tiny chips of the wood falling from the giant slabs cut from big ass trees.  I lit all of the candles surrounding the room, letting it bathe in the light.  We  sat down on the couch in the room, I had my legs crossed at the ankles, my arm hung loosely over the back of the couch whilst Eren sat there stifly.

"So, since you said Armin heard that I was coming here, he also heard our plan?"

"Yes, but this is pretty nice, I wouldn't mind sleeping here for a night."

"You're lucky that I'm not too mad about what happened..."

I trailed off and Eren looked ashamed at what he did.  I looked at him then back to the floor not really knowing how to formulate my next question.

"Who... How did you know what to do when i was like that?"

He cringed and smiled albeit bitterly.  "I knew, and still know someone who has them.  The panic attacks I mean.  He... He didn't have anyone do that for him, so let's just say... I'm very acquainted with the panic attacks."  He looked up at me, and smiled softly.  "Sorry for scaring you like that, I just, I didn't think you would react that way.  We tested the trap on Jean earlier, and he was just mad, so we thought that would be your reaction too.  This castle is big, but news travels around fast."  He laughed and I chuckled. 

"Levi, if I may ask... What disease does your mother have?"  I sighed.  "That's the thing, we don't know, all we know is that it makes her weak so she can't move around a lot, she has a cough that makes her spit up blood, and that in a few years, she'll eventually die."  I shook my head to clear my thoughts and looked over to see Eren's pain stricken face.  "She doesn't deserve that," he whispered softly, "She should be able to actually live and not just... be living."  I ruffled his hair and just stared off into a blank space.

"I've been saying that for years, kid."

He leaned into my touch and I stroked his hair as he nestled himself into my side.

"Don't you just hate the world sometimes?"

"Every single fucking day.  Sometimes it's worse than others, but I manage."

"Hmm."

"I was thinking about your friends lately.  Since they're my _guests_ as you put it, I wanted to show Armin the library.  Do you think he'd like that?"

"He'd go ballistic.  he has a major love for books, so I think he'd just forgive you for being rude this whole time." He joked and elbowed me in the side lightly just to get a rise out of me.  Need less to say, it worked.  I shoved him back, and smirked lightly and pulled my hand out of his hair to cross both of them.

"You're being such a brat, I'm trying to have a conversation here."

"Does that mean you're a brat too because you bumped me back?"

He shimmied his shoulder into mine, and I rolled my eyes. 

"You're more of a brat than me, you tripped me at breakfast, asshole."

"Hey, you declared war that night.  I'm counting that as a win for me."

"See, you are a brat."

"No, I'm not."

"Brat."

"Asshole."

"Brat."

"Asshole."

We were repeating those two words so fast that they were mixing together and we were getting louder.  He covered my mouth with his hands, and stared into my eyes as I did with his.  The force that he used when covering my mouth pushed me onto my back on the couch.  I stared into his eyes for a moment.  They were beautiful.  Not only were they green, but they had flecks of gold and blue swirled around.

"Brat."  I whispered as he pulled his hands away, and looked away from him, still laying down under him as he sat up and dusting off his clothes.  My eyes were darting all around the ceiling, and I was willing myself not to look at him.  I decided I was going to stay with Eren tonight just because I was still a little shaken up from earlier, and no other reason besides that.

"...What would you like to do while you're here?" I asked after a beat of silence passed.

"Star gazing." He replied quickly. "I dunno what it is about them, but I never had a chance to at my castle."  I sat up and looked at him. "Never?" He nodded. "Never." I laid  back down.  "Do you wanna see them right now?"  His head snapped over to me.  "Are you serious?" I nodded and stood up, tilting my head to the door and starting to walk, him following closely behind.

I led him through the corridors and stair cases again until we got to the stair case that led up onto the roof.  I opened the door and let him pass through before I shut it.

"Wow..."

"I know, c'mon, sit down with me." I walked to the edge of the roof and sat down letting my legs dangle off the sides as my companion followed suit.  He was a good three inches away from me, and I didn't mind besides the fact that it was cold and I still had red paint all over me even though it had dried ages ago. 

"It's so fucking cold, God, why does it have to be cold?"

"Quit complaining, here,"  He wrapped an arm around me and we were pressed together making us much warmer than before. "Better?" "Much."  Flakes of red peeled off my skin and onto Eren, but I didn't care, and it looked like neither did he.

"Do you know the constellations?"

"I only know their names, what about you?"

"I don't know anything about them."

"I can tell you their names and what they stand for, but I don't know where they are in the sky."

"Tell me like, three of them, I'm too tired to learn anything." To prove his point he yawned and stretched a little.

I looked over at him and saw his beaming face staring at the stars, and it looked all too familiar.  I remember sitting on top of rooftops with Isabel and Farlan both of them listening as I talked about the constellations.  Isabel would listen to their descriptions then make her own  constellations using the stars.  i shook my head and started telling him about them, but when I was halfway through with the second one, he was knocked out and leaning his head against my shoulder.  I shook my head and tried not to wake him up or make him fall while I got up. 

I walked over to the door and opened it so that it would be easier for me to carry Eren through.  I went back to him and lifted him up into my arms bridal style, and shut the door behind us.  It wasn't that hard carrying him into the basement, and I went over to one of the cabinets that held all the sheets, blankets, pillows, etcetera, etcetera, and I grabbed him some.  I gently lifted his head on the couch and set a pillow under him, and set the blanket atop him.  I turned to leave but I felt a hand grip my wrist softly.

"Don't go."  Eren whispered as I looked at him.  His eyes were half lidded and his eyes were pleading me not to leave.  I sighed and locked the door before going back over to Eren and sitting down on the floor next o the couch right by his head.  He ran his hand through my hair and I laid back just enjoying the warmth it emitted, and the way he twirled my hair in his fingers.

"I heard you crying with Hange this morning..." He said so softly, and I wouldn't have been able to hear it if I wasn't so close to him.  I stiffened and his hands just kept up their tiny ministrations. 

"I woke up on accident and was wondering the halls in the West Wing because I hadn't been over there before.  I... I heard  you through the door and I stayed there all morning."  He then said in an even softer voice, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have eavesdropped."

I sighed and contemplated what I should even say.

"It's fine, brat.  As long as you don't tell anyone, then I'm okay with it."

"You aren't mad?"

"No, not really, I just don't want it getting out that the prince that's supposed to be the future king of Sina still has nightmares."

"Oh... Okay... Levi?"

"Hmm."

"Who's Farlan?"

"... I'll tell you who he is when I'm ready to, okay?"

"Sure."

I closed my eyes, and today it seemed like sleep came easier with the brat's hand in my hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this chapter was very, very, VERY delayed, and I am sorry about that, but this is finally here, just to let you guys know, I do not have a beta, and that is why in my chapters, there are some mistakes, until next time my friends.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry...

Hey guys, I know I havent updated this in a long time, and I've been meaning to, but my depression and anxiety have been getting to me.

I've been too depressed to work on anything, and I was anxious to even post this story. I'm sorry to those of you who actually like this thing, if you're willing to wait for another chapter, then so be it.

I've also been having to deal with things like my mother, and she... Is not the nicest woman on earth. Lets just put it that way. So, hiatus is starting officially. Sorry...

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, if you made it this far, I congratulate you. *Achievement Unlocked* Please leave kudos, bookmark this, subscribe, and all that jazz, see you people in the next chapter. I'll try to update every Wednesday and if I don't, it's probably because I have things to do like go shopping (boo), or my mom picks me up early (boo). Alright, I ramble too much, I'll update on May twentieth, bye!


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